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Japanese katsu curry is a delicious combo of crispy fried pork cutlet and rich savory curry served over rice. It’s a super flavorful and easy-to-make meal!
What is Japanese Katsu Curry?
Indian curry was introduced to Japan by the British. Over the years, it has become a super popular dish in Japan, modified to their taste, and distinct from Indian curry.
Japanese curry is thick and often served with rice or udon. It can consist of a variety of vegetables and meats such as carrots, potatoes, beef, chicken, or pork.
My favorite variation is Japanese katsu curry. Katsu is a breaded and fried cutlet.
I love the textural contrast of fried katsu with curry. It’s a super flavorful meal and fairly easy to make with a little shortcut!
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Protein to Use for Katsu
Katsu is most commonly made with pork or chicken. Pork katsu is also known as tonkatsu.
I typically like to use chicken breast or boneless pork chops for making katsu.
The thickness should be about 1/4″ to 1/2″ depending on your preference. Thinner cuts will have more crispy breading to meat ratio while thicker cuts will have more meat to breading ratio. I prefer thicker katsu.
You can purchase the cutlets to your desired thickness, cut it yourself, or pound it until thin. Pounding will also help to tenderize the meat.
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How to Make Katsu
To make a crispy katsu, dredge the meat in flour, eggs, and panko. Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs which give katsu that irresistibly light crunch.
First, create a dredging station by placing flour, eggs, and panko each in its own separate plate/container.
Then lightly season each component (pork or chicken cutlet, flour, eggs, panko) with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and ginger powder.
Next cover the cutlet completely on all sides in the following order: flour, egg, and panko.
Once the cutlets are dredged, deep fry until they are golden and crispy. It takes about 2-5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the cutlet. Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point like canola or vegetable oil. The heat should be on low to medium for a continuous bubble. Be careful not to have the heat on too high to avoid burning the oil.
Lastly, remove the fried katsu from the oil and place on a wire cooling rack or on top of paper towels to soak up excess oil.
How to Make Japanese Curry
Japanese curry is made with curry powder, flour, oil, and other spices to form a roux. It thickens as you simmer with broth, water, vegetables, or meat.
However there are lots of great Japanese curry mixes and pre-made roux that you can use at home as a shortcut to make this a super easy meal without sacrificing any flavor.
My favorite brand to use is Golden Curry’s Japanese Curry Mix. It comes in different spice levels. The green “Medium Hot” has a little tingle but not very spicy at all. I usually get the 7.8 oz package which comes with 2 containers that have 4 cubes each, 8 in total.
I start by sautéing onions, garlic, baby gold potatoes, and carrots. If you like a touch of natural sweetness with your curry, I recommend also grating in about one half to a full Fuji apple.
Then add in water and the Golden Curry Japanese Curry Mix. I usually do a ratio of 1 cup of water to 1 cube of the curry mix. You can also use chicken broth instead or add chicken bouillon if you want a little more salty and savory flavor.
The Golden Curry Japanese Curry Mix by itself has a ton of flavor so you don’t really need to add anything to it.
Simmer the curry until it is thick, almost like a gravy consistency, and the vegetables are fork tender.
Serving Japanese Katsu Curry
Cut the pork tonkatsu or chicken katsu into strips right before serving. Then serve the curry with rice. Lastly, top with the katsu strips, green onions, and enjoy!
Store leftovers of katsu and curry separately in sealed containers in the fridge. I recommend reheating the katsu in an air fryer or oven and reheat the curry on the stove or microwave.
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Japanese Katsu Curry
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes minutes
Total Time 35 minutes minutes
Servings 4
Ingredients
Katsu:
- 4 pork chops, boneless (or 2 chicken breasts, butterflied & halved)
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1 cup panko
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- garlic powder to taste
- ginger powder to taste
- onion powder to taste
- neutral oil
Japanese Curry:
- ½ onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 baby gold potatoes, quartered
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 4 cubes (3.9 oz) Golden Curry Japanese Curry Mix
- 4 cups water
- 2 green onions, sliced
- ½ – 1 Fuji apple (optional)
Instructions
Katsu:
Cut and pound pork into ¼"-½" thick slices.
Place flour, eggs, and panko each in its own separate plates/containers.
Season pork, flour, eggs, and panko with salt, pepper, ginger powder, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste.
Coat the pork in the following order: flour, eggs, and panko.
Fry pork in oil for ~2-5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness, until it is golden and crispy.
Remove and place fried katsu on a wire cooling rack or on top of paper towels to soak up excess oil.
Japanese Curry
Sauté onion, garlic, potatoes, and carrots until onions are translucent.
If you like an touch of natural sweetness, grate in half or a full Fuji apple.
Add water and the curry mix cubes.
Simmer for ~15 minutes until curry thickens almost like gravy and the vegetables are fork tender.
Serve curry with rice, katsu, green onions, and enjoy!
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